*BSD News Article 71512


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From: Wayne Farmer <wayne@telstra.net>
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc
Subject: FreeBSD v Linux - A Different View
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 1996 14:14:40 +1000
Organization: Telstra Internet
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It seems a lot of energy is being placed on the "Which is best - Linux
or FreeBSD" debate.

Personally, I use FreeBSD.  Why ?  I read up on the "debate" as it stood
last year and came to the following conclusions - whether right or
wrong.  (And I don't wish to run both.)

I wanted a stable OS with a SunOS 4.1.3 flavour to make life a bit
easier.  Networking and i/o was seen as important and a stable, mature
BSD based OS seemed a better choice.  I preferred a single point of
distribution and was happy to rely on the good nature of the developers
to do the right thing.

I/we use FreeBSD extensively (but certainly not exclusively) and have
found no problems except for inelegant operation when you run out of
virtual memory.  They usually run faultless for months.

No doubt there are many Linux users who would say the same.

Personally, I would rather see FreeBSD and Linux move a bit closer until
the point where executables are relatively transportable between the 2
platforms.

But I guess we are in a competitive world.

Wayne

PS #1 Where are we at with Linux ELF and a.out stuff running on FreeBSD
?

PS #2 If Bill Gates can complain that Netscape are not playing the game
by avoiding the standards process re. HTML AND say it with a straight
face, then I'm the governor of Arkansas (and I've never been there).